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The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
06 Jul 2012, 20:51

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A

B

C

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E

Difficulty:

(N/A)

Question Stats:

93%(02:04) correct
7%(01:43) wrong based on 115 sessions

The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence, much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurt sales of big ticket items such as automobiles.

A. much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtB. which was much lower than is typical for this time of year, hurtingC. because it was much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtD. being much lower than typically is for this time of year, hurtingE. having been much lower than is typical for this time of year and hurt

Re: The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
09 Jul 2012, 03:52

agdimple333 wrote:

The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence, much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurt sales of big ticket items such as automobiles.

A. much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtB. which was much lower than is typical for this time of year, hurtingC. because it was much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtD. being much lower than typically is for this time of year, hurtingE. having been much lower than is typical for this time of year and hurt

However, in this choice "being" is wrong because it makes senses that prices and consumer confidences go down. If price go down, it cannot hurt the sales of big item such as car. In contrast, in choice B, WHICH modifies only CONSUMER CONFIDENCES that really hurt the sales if CONSUMER CONFIDENCES decline. _________________

Re: The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
09 Jul 2012, 22:32

Expert's post

We can eliminate choices A and C, because, the relative pronoun –which - modifies the noun – year -, an absurd match.

We must select either the present participial hurting or the verb – hurt-.

We can not pick E because of the self contradiction within the clause; when we use a singular verb - is typical -, then we must match it up with another singular verb – hurts- in the second arm, rather than the plural verb - hurt- The subject of the sentence is the singular decrease rather than the plural - rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence –

We now have B and D. In D, the usage of being does denote a sense of ongoing, while it should not. Because the decease has been recent and is over. If it were to continue, we would rather call it the current decrease

This leaves us with B, not a satisfactory one too. The shift of tense from present perfect to past tense was is grammatically undesirable. Has been lower would have been better and parallel IMO.

All said and done, B perhaps, may be the final compulsion _________________

Re: The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
10 Jul 2012, 03:07

agdimple333 wrote:

The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence, much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurt sales of big ticket items such as automobiles.

A. much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtB. which was much lower than is typical for this time of year, hurtingC. because it was much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtD. being much lower than typically is for this time of year, hurtingE. having been much lower than is typical for this time of year and hurt

Always remember the golden rule "Which refers to the word preceded by it"A and C are immediately out as year cant hurt the sales.Having been much lower is too complex and wordy besides that hurt is not parrallel with having thus strike off "E"Eventhough "B" looks a perfect answer choice use of "was" is dubious as the tense used here is present continous thus "B" is gone and "D" should be the answer. _________________

Re: The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
10 Jul 2012, 03:13

daagh wrote:

We can eliminate choices A and C, because, the relative pronoun –which - modifies the noun – year -, an absurd match.

We must select either the present participial hurting or the verb – hurt-.

We can not pick E because of the self contradiction within the clause; when we use a singular verb - is typical -, then we must match it up with another singular verb – hurts- in the second arm, rather than the plural verb - hurt- The subject of the sentence is the singular decrease rather than the plural - rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence –

We now have B and D. In D, the usage of being does denote a sense of ongoing, while it should not. Because the decease has been recent and is over. If it were to continue, we would rather call it the current decrease

This leaves us with B, not a satisfactory one too. The shift of tense from present perfect to past tense was is grammatically undesirable. Has been lower would have been better and parallel IMO.

Re: The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
10 Jul 2012, 03:30

agdimple333 wrote:

The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence, much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurt sales of big ticket items such as automobiles.

A. much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtB. which was much lower than is typical for this time of year, hurtingC. because it was much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtD. being much lower than typically is for this time of year, hurtingE. having been much lower than is typical for this time of year and hurt

Re: The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
14 Aug 2012, 17:48

MSDHONI wrote:

daagh wrote:

We can eliminate choices A and C, because, the relative pronoun –which - modifies the noun – year -, an absurd match.

We must select either the present participial hurting or the verb – hurt-.

We can not pick E because of the self contradiction within the clause; when we use a singular verb - is typical -, then we must match it up with another singular verb – hurts- in the second arm, rather than the plural verb - hurt- The subject of the sentence is the singular decrease rather than the plural - rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence –

We now have B and D. In D, the usage of being does denote a sense of ongoing, while it should not. Because the decease has been recent and is over. If it were to continue, we would rather call it the current decrease

This leaves us with B, not a satisfactory one too. The shift of tense from present perfect to past tense was is grammatically undesirable. Has been lower would have been better and parallel IMO.

All said and done, B perhaps, may be the final compulsion

Doesn't being refer to consumer confidence??

I think sticking point is not whether "being" is referring to consumer confidence or not but rather, the tense is wrong. Also, the answer choices are clauses interjecting additional information. You need a transitive word such as which?

Re: The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
14 Aug 2012, 22:06

agdimple333 wrote:

The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence, much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurt sales of big ticket items such as automobiles.

A. much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtB. which was much lower than is typical for this time of year, hurtingC. because it was much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtD. being much lower than typically is for this time of year, hurtingE. having been much lower than is typical for this time of year and hurt

Between B and D

IMO D.

Being works as a verbal that modifies consumer confidence, and hurting modifies plumeting consumer confidence and rising energy prices.

I would be satisfied with B if it did not had the subject verb agreement issue - "rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence" make a plural subject, which needs the plural verb "were". If B refered to both, as "which were more extreme than typical for this time of the year" I would have picked B. Nevertheless the rest of the answer only talks about plumeting consumer confidence. "Which was more lower than is from my perspective has a tense issue.

Re: The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
15 Aug 2012, 08:38

Expert's post

1`First thing, the present participle – being –in choice D, separated by a comma, has to modify the entire clauses before and not just the noun it touches. Please try and see whether, modifying the entire clause makes any reasonable meaning

2. Which refers to what? Is it just the plummeting consumer confidence or both increasing energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence? The increasing energy prices being lower than what is typical for this time of the year is rather oxymoronic. Therefore, it cannot refer to both factors but only the plummeting consumer confidence. Hence the use of singular verb is acceptable.

We can ignore the doubts whether we need to use the verb is typical, since it is part of all the choices. _________________

Re: The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
16 Aug 2012, 00:51

I see the question little differently. We can read the statement as below. If phrase in bold are in continuation, we can very well use which for "rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence".

The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence, much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurt sales of big ticket items such as automobiles.

A. much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurt - looks correctB. which was much lower than is typical for this time of year, hurting - "rising energy prices and plum...consumer confidence" hurting sales sounds oddC. because it was much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurt - second phrase is not a reason, so "because ..." doesnt make senseD. being much lower than typically is for this time of year, hurting - passive voiceE. having been much lower than is typical for this time of year and hurt - passive voice and changing the meaning

Re: The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
16 Aug 2012, 02:48

Expert's post

If A were right the relative pronoun 'which' should be referring to the compound and plural object nouns namely rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence However, they are both said to be lower than normal for this time year, meaning that the energy prices did not rise as much as they do normally. This is a ppositive factor and therefore it can not be alluded to both the decrease in revenues and sales. Is the paradox evident ? _________________

Re: The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
16 Aug 2012, 06:30

The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence, much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurt sales of big ticket items such as automobiles.

Meaning:The decrease in revenue Reasons: 1. rising energy 2. plummeting consumer confidencereasoning has to be introduced, One reasoning as hinted by the author: "something" got lower than last year,the same time.Resulted in the decrease in the sale of high cost items such as automobiles.

A. much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtwhich is modifying "year"-incorrect B. which was much lower than is typical for this time of year, hurtingwhich is modifying "confidence".We know that plummeting consumer confidence is one of the reason of the decrease sales, so introduction of "hurting"(verb+ing modifier is correct)because "hurting"will modify the whole clause-correctC. because it was much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurt[color=#0000ff]whichis modifying "year"- incorrectD. being much lower than typically is for this time of year, hurtingbeing is introducing wrong voice-incorrectE. having been much lower than is typical for this time of year and hurtincorrect tense-having been_________________

Re: The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
16 Aug 2012, 08:11

agdimple333 wrote:

The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence, much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurt sales of big ticket items such as automobiles.

A. much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtB. which was much lower than is typical for this time of year, hurtingC. because it was much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtD. being much lower than typically is for this time of year, hurtingE. having been much lower than is typical for this time of year and hurt

CDE are obvious wrong choices for "which" in C, for "being" in D and for "having been" in E.

Its between A and B. I am considering B for "which" as modifying phrase in A is wrong.

Re: The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
16 Aug 2012, 09:14

Expert's post

The verb that follows which is singular and therefore which must refer to a singular noun, which is the confidence. If it were confidence and prices, then the verb should be were. So, which refers to the noun it touches namely the singular confidence and is perfectly acceptable. _________________

The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising [#permalink]
08 May 2013, 06:19

The recent decrease in revenue has been attributed to rising energy prices and plummeting consumer confidence, much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurt sales of big ticket items such as automobiles.

A much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtB which was much lower than is typical for this time of year, hurtingC because it was much lower than is typical for this time of year, which hurtD being much lower than typically is for this time of year, hurtingE having been much lower than is typical for this time of year and hurt